Strategy: Tools and Strategies for File-Level Data Protection

Randy George03/31/13

Strategy: Tools and Strategies for File-Level Data Protection

The process of protecting individual files can be an arduous and thankless task. Users will surely complain about any additional hoops they need to jump through to share their data with others, and IT may complain about the additional overhead required to properly secure individual files. But more than almost any other security initiative you undertake, directly addressing the protection of file-level data will have significant return on ­investment. Some organizations spend millions of dollars on a tight security perimeter and ultimately experience data loss because they’re just not focused on protecting data at the individual file level.

Nothing should be more important to your business than the integrity and security of your data. Servers and networks fail all the time, but those commodities can be replaced quickly. Servers and networks are hacked every day, but if your data itself is well-protected, then the actual cost of that security breach is minimal.

Any time an organization faces a costly, damaging security incident, it’s always related to the data contained within files and databases that are lost or compromised. If you do nothing else with your razor-tight security budget, protect your file-level data—and build a security boundary around that data with whatever money you have left. In this Dark Reading report we examine why data should be security professionals’ No. 1 priority, and recommend products and practices for keeping that data safe. (S6780313)